Pfaff Grand Quilters 1200 owners-technical question ??

I purchased the above mentioned machine on an Inspira frame from a friend last year. I will be the 3rd owner. The shank that the Free Motion Foot attaches to is not stationary. I can manually swivel it almost 360 degrees. To make matters worse it swivels on its own (occasionally!) which causes the hole in the center of the foot to move enough so the needle hits the plastic part and breaks the needle. My DH (who is a great handy man!) and I have both looked thru the manual and can't find any reference to this problem. There is no way to get into the machine (that we can find) to find a screw to tighten. I hesitate to take it to our local Sew and Vac store because they have to send the machine to Seattle which will take a week or longer. I have a history with this store of them not being completely honest with me on several different issues so I really don't trust them.. We do not have any other repair men in the area who can recommended. There is a pressure dial on top of the machine that is supposed to adjust the pressure of the foot on different weights of fabric but there is NO reference to using it while FM. I don't want to damage this any further. Any of you other owners out there have this problem? Any body have any ideas. I know there are some repair people on this board. Thanks in advance for taking the time to help!! BTW the plastic on the foot is all scratched/chipped up so this has been happening since BEFORE I bought the machine. I asked the gal I bot it from and she said she didn't use it enough to remember if it was an issue. I believe her. *sigh* I have 4 quilts ready for the frame. Help!!!

That is a very dangerous issue. The needle could break and fly off in pieces into an eye. I believe the shank you are talking about is supposed to be completely stationery -- secured in some way to the machine's frame. This would not be a common problem, but could have been a factory defect or the result of some previous owner's mistakes. I definitely would not be using this machine until you get this fixed.

Is the local Sew and Vac store a dealer for Pfaff? In any case, you may be able to find other dealers in the area by doing a search here: http://webservices.us.vsmgroup.com/D...CountryCode=US . You may also be able to ship the machine to Seattle yourself (original packaging materials may be required; if you do not have them, they may be available from a Pfaff dealer for a price).

I did some extensive Google searches and cannot find anything online that would be likely to help you fix this problem yourself.

Edit: I may be misunderstanding what you mean by the shaft. I assume this is the long post that the presser foot is attached to and that moves up and down with the presser lifter. Is this the piece that you can move around 360 degrees? Or is it something else?

Your Pfaff Grand Quilter was built by Janome. Try to find a Janome dealer or service center and see if they can fix it for you. The shaft you are talking about is called the Needle Bar. If it is loose and swivels around I definitely would NOT use the machine. Is finishing a quilt more important than risking a serious injury or at the least, severe damage to the machine if that bar drops out while you are using it.

The nose cover should come off the machine to change the light bulb. If you can get it off you can get to the needle bar.

Thanks everybody for all the suggestions! I love the way folks here on the BOARD are so ready and willing to step in to help with a problem. I must especially thank SWANNIE for suggesting I contact GREG...Wow! He was right on it with his expert help. It seems the set screw on the pressure foot shaft had become REALLY loose. I didn't even know I HAD one of those !! lol ! so after taking the machine apart, I tightened up the set screw and we solved the problem.. YEAH!!. machine also got a good cleaning and oiling....since it was off the frame... now I can attack those 4 tops waiting.............. Thanks again everybody !